FIFO suicide family urges mining companies to take heed of mental health report

The family of a fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) worker who died from suicide has urged the resources sector to embrace the findings of a parliamentary committee report examining the mental health impact of FIFO operations.

Peter and Anita Miller's son Rhys Connor died at a mining camp at the Hope Downs site in Western Australia's Pilbara region in 2013.

They were at Parliament for the release of the committee's final report after a 10-month investigation into potential links between FIFO work and mental health problems, including suicide.

Mr Miller said his son's battle with depression and stress was his first experience in dealing with mental illness.

"We didn't understand the full implications of his mental unwellness at the time," he said.

He said mental health was an illness that could affect anyone.

"You only need one impact in your life — your wife might die, your dog might die — for you to become mentally ill."

Mr Miller said the industry had to evolve its culture so that mental health was dealt with openly and not stigmatised.

"We know, still to this day, there are instances of people who have become mentally unbalanced or mentally ill and they have talked about it and they have consequently lost their jobs," he said.

"So it's still happening. It needs to be stopped."

Mining companies need to lead from the top, parent says

Mr Miller said the change needed to be led from the top of mining companies.

"I think it [the report] will have a flow-on effect. I think the miners need to stand up as a whole and make those changes," he said.

"If those people in those high spots in the industry, if they make the change, it'll flow through down the line."

But the response from the resources sector has been measured.

There has been no immediate undertaking to either adopt the recommended code of practice or initiate new research to examine the mental health effects of FIFO work.

Bruce Campbell-Fraser from the Chamber of Minerals and Energy said companies already had employee assistant programs and had made significant improvements to work site accommodation.

"Not withstanding that, industry is on a continuous improvement journey to improve safety and we'll certainly be taking a good look at this report and examining these recommendations in detail," he said.

Industry says further data needs to be collected

Mr Campbell-Fraser said there was still a lack of detailed information on mental illness and suicide in the industry and that it wanted the coroner to collect hard data to be used as the basis for further research.

"While we've had a really good hearing and there's been lots of evidence presented, what we still need is robust, peer-reviewed and published research," he said.

Mr Campbell-Fraser was asked if the industry would initiate research to fill the information gap itsaid existed.

"There is already a myriad of research underway, much of it industry supported," he said.

Unions WA state secretary Meredith Hammat said the mining industry should adopt the code of practice recommended by the committee and immediately work to address the issues outlined in the report.

"The recommendations are clear — we need to do much more," Ms Hammat said.

"We need to ensure we are implementing family friendly rosters. We need to ensure we are improving data collection and reporting.

"We also need to make sure that we have strong occupational health and safety with codes of practice that deal specifically with fly-in, fly-out work."

The Electrical Trades Union and CFMEU said they wanted to immediately begin discussions with resource companies on making rosters more family-friendly.